Cover not available
Article published In:
Babel
Vol. 64:1 (2018) ► pp.81–110

From El Gran Meaulnes to Meaulnes el Grande

A comparative study of the Spanish retranslations of a French classic

| Universidad Pontificia Comillas Madrid
| Universidad Pontificia Comillas Madrid

The present contribution aims at a comparative study of the Spanish retranslations of the French classic Le Grand Meaulnes. With the objective of identifying macro and micro-structural variations among the various retranslations, a parallel corpus is compiled, the source-text and the various translations are aligned and imported into a translation memory which allows for a targeted analysis of specific linguistic elements. The results obtained from the corpus analysis show that, despite their differences the retranslations display a relative homogeneity, in so far as they are largely source-text oriented and foreignizing. Relative homogeneity notwithstanding, differences can be observed between twentieth century-translations and those carried out in the twenty-first-century. The translators of the latter take a specific approach to translating the novel, either as a literary critic or by taking a critical stance towards a more assimilative approach adopted in an earlier translation.

Keywords: retranslation, comparative study, corpus analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translations of Le Grand Meaulnes into Spanish: Latin America and Spain
  • 3.The theoretical framing of retranslation
  • 4.The methodological framing of the study
  • 5.Analysis of extra-textual aspects
    • 5.1Publishing houses, editorial series, targeted public and translators
  • 6.Intra-textual analysis: Macro-structural aspects
    • 6.1Paratexts, title and chapter titles
      • 6.1.1Paratexts
      • 6.1.2Translation of the title and chapter titles
        • 6.1.2.1The nature and function of literary titles
        • 6.1.2.2Title translation
    • 6.2Translation method
  • 7.Intra-textual analysis: Micro-structural aspects
    • 7.1Sentence level
    • 7.2Lexical level
    • 7.3Translation of culturemes
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Editions of Le Grand Meaulnes
Published online: 8 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00028.rod
References
Alvstad, C.; and Assis Rosa, A.
2015 “Voice in Retranslation. An overview and some trends”. Target 27 (1): 3–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ballard, M.
1992 De Ciceron à Benjamin. Traducteurs, traductions, réflexions. Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille.Google Scholar
Barnes, J.
2012 “Le Grand Meaulnes revisited”. The Guardian 13 April 2012 [URL]
Bastin, G.
[1998] 2009 “Adapation”. In Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies. 2nd edition, ed. by M. Baker; and Saldanha, G., 3–6. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bensimon, P.
1990 “Présentation”. Palimpsestes 41: IX–XIII.Google Scholar
Berman, A.
1990 “La retraduction comme espace de la traduction”. Palimpsestes 41: 1–7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bödeker, B.; and Freese, K.
1987 “Die Übersetzung von Realienbezeichnungen bei literarischen Texten: Eine Prototypologie”. TextconText 2 (3): 137–165.Google Scholar
Brownlie, S.
2006 “Narrative theory and retranslation theory”. Across Languages and Cultures 7 (2): 145–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, A.
1997 Memes of translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collera, V.
2012 “Modernos e inmortales”. El País 17 March 2012 [URL]
Collombat, I.
2004 “Le XXIe siècle: l’âge de la retraduction”. Translation Studies in the New Millennium 21: 1–15.Google Scholar
Deane-Cox, S.
2014 Retranslation: Literature and Reinterpretation. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.Google Scholar
Desmidt, I.
2009 “(Re)translation Revisited”. Meta: Journal des traducteurs- Meta: Translators’ Journal 54 (4): 669–683. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Domínguez Pérez, M.
2008 Las traducciones de literatura infantil y juvenil en el interior de la comunidad interliteraria específica española (1940–1980). Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar
Feng, L.
2014 “Retranslation hypotheses revisited: A case study of two English translations of Sanguo Yanyi – the first Chinese novel”. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 431: 69–86 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gambier, Y.
1994 “La retraduction, retour et détour”. Meta: Journal des traducteurs – Meta: Translators’ Journal 39 (3): 413–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
García-Peña, Evarista
2012 “El gran Meaulnes de Alain-Fournier, en la traducción de Lisandro Galtier (1938)”. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes [URL]
Genette, G.
1988 “Structure and Functions of The Title in Literature”. Critical Inquiry 14 (4): 692–720. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1997 Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gibson, R.
2005 The End of Youth: The Life and Work of Alain-Fournier. Exeter: Impress Books Limited.Google Scholar
Gusdorf, G.
1988 “Simone de Beauvoir. The Giant, the Scapegoat, the Quester”. In French Women Writers and the Book: myths of access and desire, ed. by T. Sankovitch, 101–124. Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Hellwig, P.
1984 “Titulus oder Über den Zusammenhang von Titeln und Texten. Titel sind ein Schlüssel zur Textkonstitution”. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 121: 1–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoek, L.
1973 Pour une sémiotique du titre. Urbino: Centro Internazionale di Semiotica e di Linguistica. Università di Urbino.Google Scholar
Kahn, R.; and Seth, C.
(eds) 2010 La Retraduction. Rouen – Le Havre: Publications des Universités de Rouen et du Havre.Google Scholar
Lombez, C.
(ed) 2011 Retraductions – De la Renaissance au XXIe siècle. Nantes: Éditions Cécile Defaut.Google Scholar
Molina, L.; and Hurtado Albir, A.
2002 “Translation techniques revisited: A dynamic and functionalist approach”. Meta: Journal des traducteurs – Meta: Translators’ Journal 47 (4): 498–512. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moi, T.
2008 Simone de Beauvoir: The making of an intellectual woman. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Monti, E.; and Schnyder, P.
(eds) 2011 Autour de la retraduction. Perspectives littéraires européennes. Paris: Orizons.Google Scholar
Newmark, P.
1988 A Textbook of Translation. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Nord, C.
1995 “Text-functions in translation: Titles and headings as a case in point”. Target 7 (2): 261–284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1997 “A functional typology of translation”. In Text typology and translation, ed. by A. Trosborg, 43–66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004a “Die Übersetzung von Titeln und Überschriften aus sprachwissenschaftlicher Sicht”. In Übersetzung-Translation-Traduction. Internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung, ed. by H. Kittel et al., 573–579. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
2004b “Die Übersetzung von Titeln, Kapiteln und Überschriften in literarischen Texten”. pp. 908–914. In H. Kittel et al. (eds) Übersetzung Translation Traduction. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Oksaar, E.
1988 Kulturemtheorie: Ein Beitrag zur Sprachverwendungsforschung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Onega Jaén, S.
1994 “The Ebony Tower. Texts and Intertexts”. Miscelánea: A journal of English and American Studies 151: 447–480.Google Scholar
Koskinen, K.; and Paloposki, O.
2003 “Retranslations in the Age of Digital Reproduction”. Cadernos de Tradução 1 (11): 19–38.Google Scholar
2015 “Anxieties of influence: The voice of the first translator in retranslation”. Target 27 (1): 25–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kwieciński, P.
2001 Disturbing strangeness: foreignisation and domestication in translation procedures in the context of cultural asymmetry. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Edytor.Google Scholar
Paloposki, O.; and Koskinen, K.
2004 “A thousand and one translations: Revisiting restranslation”. In Claims Changes and Challenges in Translation Studies, ed. by G. Hansen; K. Malmkjaer; and D. Glle, 27–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 “Reprocessing texts. The fine line between retranslating and revising”. Across Languages and Cultures 11 (1): 29–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pöckl, W.
2004 “Zwischen Zufall und Notwendigkeit: Neuübersetzungen”. Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur 29 (2): 200–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez, Liliane
1990 “Sous le signe de Mercure, la retraduction”. Palimpsestes 41: 63–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothe, A.
1986 Der literarische Titel: Funktionen, Formen, Geschichte (Vol. 161). Frankfurt a.M.: Vittorio Klostermann.Google Scholar
Sánchez Iglesias, J.
2014 “Evaluación y retraducción: en torno al envejecimiento de las traducciones”. In Las huellas del pasado en la cultura italiana contemporánea: Le tracce del passato nella cultura italiana contemporánea, ed. by P. L. Ladrón de Guevara, B. Hernández; and Z. Zografidou, 453–461. Murcia: Universidad de MurciaGoogle Scholar
Skibińska, E.
2007 “La Retraduction, manifestation de la subjectivité du traducteur”. Doletiana: revista de traducció, literatura i art 11: 1–10.Google Scholar
Toury, G.
1998 “A handful of paragraphs on ‘translation’ and ‘norms’”. Current Issues in Language & Society 5 (1–2): 10–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, L.
2003 “Retranslations: The creation of value”. Bucknell Review 47 (1): 25–39.Google Scholar
Viezzi, M.
2011 “The translation of book titles: theoretical and practical aspects”. In Beyond Borders – Translations Moving Languages, Literatures and Cultures, ed. by P. Kujamäki; L. Kolehmainen; E. Penttilä; and H. Kemppanen, 183–195. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar

Editions of Le Grand Meaulnes

French edition

Fournier, A.
2007 [1913] Le Grand Meaulnes. Ebooks libres et gratuits. [URL]

Spanish editions

Fournier, A.
1980 El gran Meaulnes. Una misteriosa aventura en los límites del sueño y la realidad. Transl. by María Teresa Arbó. Barcelona: Editorial PlanetaGoogle Scholar
1981 [1979] El gran Meaulnes. Transl. by María Campuzano; and José María Valverde. Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera.Google Scholar
1988 El gran Meaulnes. Transl. by Ana de la Guerra. Madrid: Alborada Ediciones.Google Scholar
1996 [1964] El gran Meaulnes. Transl. by Gerardo Selva y Jonio González Cofreces. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés.Google Scholar
2000 El gran Meaulnes. Ed. and transl. by Juan Bravo Castillo. Madrid: Cátedra.Google Scholar
2012 Meaulnes el Grande. Transl. by Juan Buenaventura. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.Google Scholar
2013 [1983] El gran Meaulnes. Transl. by Claudio Galindo. Madrid: Anaya.Google Scholar

English edition

Fournier, A.
2013 [1959] The Lost Domain: Le Grand Meaulnes. Transl. by Frank Davison and with an introduction by Hermione Lee. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar